Leo's oneshot collection
by cupcake01
Summary: This is a collection of one-shots with the main character of Leonardo. Prompts are highly welcome - warnings inside the first story. 6th Story - "There's always something to learn": Leo has some difficulties with his motivation lately. Will his family be able to help him through it? - PLEASE REVIEW.
1. Karma

**Hi TMNT Fans :) Yes, I'm back that quickly, so you didn't have to miss me ;) I decided to continue with the promised oneshot collection about Leo, and as I told in my last story ("Hurt in more ways"), I plan to write stories with my own ideas, but prompts from you guys are also welcomed and will be taken into consideration for a oneshot story. However, I have to say that I only write hurt/comfort, angst, or drama, family, friends stories - so please no romance or SLASH, because I'm bad at this genre and to be honest, I don't like them very much.**

 **So, if you read this story, make sure to write your idea as an review or PM, and I promise to make a story out of it - at least I'll try ;)**

 **And now, have fun with the first Leo oneshot collection story.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except of the plot and all new characters that might show up in this collection.**

 **Warinings: My mother tongue isn't English - so just read over those nasty language mistakes I surely make ;) Also, some of the stories might contain spoilers of the show or the movies.**

 **Summary: Leo is having severe migraines lately. Can anybody help him with his problem?**

As Leo was waking up, he knew instantly that this wasn't going to be a good day. His head was killing him - again. Sighing, he got up and rubed his temples. He wondered why his head was aching that much lately. Maybe he should ask his Master Splinter about it? However, he decided not to do so. He would just tell him to be strong and to think the pain away.

As he went to the kitchen, he already heard his brothers shouting loudly around. He sighed again. The noise wasn't going to help him. And shouting brothers meant that there was something that had to be solved.

"You idiot" Raph said harshly, to his brother Mikey who held a pan in his hand. He looked rather defiant.

"Not my fault" Mikey commented. "I was hungry. You know what happens when I'm hungry."

"But, I made those pancakes for me! And I even told you not to eat them!" Raph looked as if he was going to kill his younger brother in any minute Leo wondered where Donnie was and decided to go in between. Usually, he was trying to avoid arguments. Donnie was better in solving those little quarrels between his younger brother. However, he knew that he was the leader and responsible for their well-being.

"Raph, maybe you should calm down..." he begun in his calm voice. However, he was interrupted quickly with a furious glare of his brother.

"Aw, come on, fearless. Why do you wanna give the fault to me again?"

Leo glared back, stunned. His head was pounding even more. Thinking became suddenly difficult.

"Look, I didn't want you to think..." Leo said, but was interrupted again. Mikey remained awfully quiet because he could feel that he shouldn't speak up.

"You always think that it's me! You know what, I don't want those pancakes anyway!"

With that, Raphel rushed past him, not without shoving his shoulder hardly.

"Raph! Come back!" Leo called out. However, he just heard the bang of the door being shut loudly.

"Well, that escalated quickly." Mikey grinned. Leo looked at him. He really wasn't in the mood of Mikeys jokes. "You go and apologize. Then, you make some new pancakes for your brother." Leo remarked that he said that maybe too rude, but he didn't care. He just wanted to drink his cup of tea and hope that his headaches will go away.

"You know, I know now what Raphie meant... you can be really bossy sometimes!" Mikey said, his grin washed away. Leo hadn't except this from his youngest brother. Usually, Mikey always followed him - however, it was typically that on that day, everything went wrong.

"Mikey, I have to act like that because I'm the leader..." he tried to explain and felt the pounding ache of his head again. God, this morning seemed to be the worst of all time. And were was Donnie?

"Yeah.. whatever." Mikey passed Leo too, went in direction of Raphies room, without looking back. However, Leo still felt his disappointing look.

Great, he wasn't awake for an hour and had managed to argue with two of his brothers. Sighing deeply and rubbing his temples again, he went to the kitchen to finally make himself some tea. He grabbed a cup, but suddenly, a wave of dizziness was overwhelming him.

"Damn headaches!" he murmured as the cup landed on the floor and got shattered all around the floor.

"Leo?" he heard a soft voice behind him. Leo blinked. What happened? Oh yeah, tea...

"Leo, are you okay? Come on, sit down, bro. I'll clean that up." Leo was thankful to be lead to the kitchen table and sat down on his favorite chair. Now as he sat, he recognized that Donatello was standing in front of him, looking at him worriedly.

"Leo, are you okay? Say something, please".

"I..." Damn, his head hurt so bad. "Headache" he just whispered. His voice suddenly sounded raspy and his tongue felt dry.

"Migraines again?" Donnie asked him.

Stunned, Leo looked up. He hadn't told anybody about it - How could Donnie knew about it?

"You forget that I'm a genius" Donnie grinned, as if he was reading his mind. "And truth is, the symptoms are obvious. You were acting like that earlier that week, so my first thought were about your migraines."

Leo just nodded. "Sorry" he said. He had to apologize. He didn't want any of his brothers know about his weakness. How could they take him serious as a leader?

"Leo, for heaven's sake! Don't apologize for some stupid headaches!" Donnie said. "You are working too much! If you ask me, that's why you have them - your body needs a break."

Donnie paused, observing his eldest brother. He sat there, not looking him in his eyes. He decided to do something - he had to. He couldn't stand there and let Leo destroy himself. "I'll be right back" he said softly to his brother. and went out of the kitchen

Leo just nodded again. He didn't want to go anywhere.

One minute later, Donnie came back. in one hand, a cup of tea. in the other, a wet towel.

"Here, put this on your head. It should help to cool it down, it's soaked with a mixture of mint and water." He put the towel onto Leo's head.

Leo breathed in the calming smell of mint. He closed his eyes for a second and opened it. "Thanks Donnie. That's good."

"No problem." his brother continued. "And that's green tea with lemon and honey. I know that you don't like tablets, but you should drink something warm. It will help, trust me."

Leo nodded and took a sip of the tea. "Tastes good" he said, trying to smile.

Donnie smiled back. However, he wasn't finished.

"So, about your headaches..." he begun, but was interrupted.

"They ain't that bad" Leo quickly said. However, he still felt the pain behind his temples.

"Yeah? You're a bad liar, you know that?" Donnie said. It wasn't a question and Leo pressed his lips together. "Leo, you're doing too much here. You're overworked. Why do you think is your body reacting like that?"

Leo shrugged his shoulders. "Karma maybe?"

Curiously, Donnie asked:"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know that I'm not a good brother, lately. I've been rude to Raphie and Mikey... and you, too. No, don't say anything... y-you know it's true. I could've been better... I sh-should be better! Maybe I've deserved to have some pain."

"Leo...Bro..." Donnie whispered, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder to calm him down. It wasn't often that he saw the blue masked turtle in rage - and showing emotions.

"S-sorry." Leo whispered ashamed. "I shouldn't h-ave spoken like that." He was near tears and had to held them back. He wished he just could go into his room, but Donnie still held his back.

"Stop apologizing for things you don't need to!" Donnie said, with a severe voice. "And now, listen." Leo looked finally into his brother's eyes.

"You are the best oldest brother we could have. Sure, you could be bossy sometimes, but you are our leader and have to make all of the difficult decisions that nobody would want to make. You are responsible for us all - it's only comprehensible that one day, it'll be too much. But then, you've us. And we'll help you with your problems. You don't need to feel that you have nobody you can go to." Donnie stopped. "Leo, you are important to us. And we need you. This includes you as a brother and as a leader, we are a team, and we're helping each other."

Leo thought about Donnie's words. His brother was right. He wasn't thinking that his family would understand his weakness. But at least Donnie had understood it.

"You're right..." he said finally.

"Of course I am" Donnie smiled to him, and Leo had to smile back. He took another sip of the tea and suddenly, his headaches weren't there anymore.

"You know what, I'm feeling a lot better now" Leo said, still smelling the refreshing scent of the mint-water towel on his head.

"That's good. I'll go and ask Master Splinter if we can skip practice today. I think we need some brother-time today."

Leo nodded. "Yeah, and I'm going to talk to Raphie and Mikey. I hope they'll join us.

"Join what?" Mikey said from the door of the kitchen. He'd just arrived and Leo turned around as he saw his two other brothers at the doorstep.

"'s everything okay, bro?" Raphie said and pointed on the towel on Leo's head. Leo nodded, looked from his brothers to Donnie.

"Yeah, I'm good... now. Could you two sit down for a moment? I think we need to talk..."

And then, he told his brothers about his headaches.

"Leo, you should've said somethin' earlier" Raphie said afterwards.

"Yeah, dude... we're brothers... we're helping each other!" Mikey stood up and hugged him tightly.

"I know that now" Leo replied. "I hope I'll remember that in future, too."

His brothers nodded and smiled at him. Then, Leo knew that everything was going to be okay.

 **Finished :) Well, the first oneshot at least. So, how did you like it? Don't forget to review and, if you want, comment your prompt and maybe your prompt will be plot of the next oneshot story :)**

 **xoxo**

 **Cupcake01**


	2. Happy birthday?

**Hello readers! Since your comments and reviews have been so awesome (THANKS for that), I decided to continue with the second oneshot a day earlier as planned. Please don't forget to leave a review for this story, too and also, don't be shy to leave a prompt, so the oneshot collection can be build up as high as possible :)**

 **And now, have fun with reading**

 **Summary: It's Leonardo's 18th birthday. However, his family seemed to ignore the special day and Leo think that they have forgotten about it. Can they cheer him up, though?**

Today was the day. Leo couldn't help but being a bit excited as he woke up early in the morning. He was 18 years old now - and in is opinion, it was a special day. He got up and wondered if his brothers had planned something special for him. However, he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it - He was the leader and he shouldn't be so childish to make his family celebrate a birthday. Though, they always celebrate their birthdays in their family. At least Mikey got a present every year, since he was the youngest. For the others, they used to have a special meal or something like that - so, every family member (even Master Splinter's) birthday was celebrated in a way.

He was looking forward to spend the time with his family because they had a lot of practice and patrols, since a there has been a higher foot ninja activity lately.

Leo smiled as he left his room and already heard some noise out of the kitchen. He prepared himself and tried not to smile too much. However, as he went into the kitchen, it wasn't what he'd expected. His brothers were already awake, however, they were obviously having an argument.

"Hey chuckle head, why is it always you that forget to buy the things?" Leo's brother Raphael asked the youngest, orange masked turtle.

Mikey looked up from the empty fridge.

"Well, _hothead_ , you know I'm there to _do_ the cooking... not to _buy_ it".

Leo sighed. So, no breakfast for today, obviously. Without a comment, he went to the kitchen bar to make himself a cup of tea.

"Hey Fearless, can't you tell Mikey that it's defninetly his job to buy our food?"

Raph sounded as if he was going to explode by any minute; Leo looked calmly to his brother. "Well, I think you could live one day without breakfast. And yes, Mikey... " he turned to Mikey. "I think it is really your job to buy our food. Since you're the cook..."

Obviously offended, both of his brothers went out of the kitchen and left him alone. Leo sighed again and looked to his second youngest brother, Donnie, how just entered the kitchen, as well.

"Leo... Um... Could you help me with cleaning up the lab?" His brother began with a rather embarrassed look. Leo sighed as he looked into still empty cup. Well, this wasn't the birthday morning he'd expected. "What've you done, Donnie?" he asked.

Donnie had managed to make a mass out of the lab due to an explosion of a rather sticky pink substance. As Leo asked him, what that was, Donnie just murmured something like "Top secret" and Leo decided not to ask more questions. That was something he'd learned about Donnie's experiments. If his brother didn't want to tell them about it, it was better not to question it.

Of course he helped Donnie to clean up the mess the whole morning, and, although Leo didn't want to admit it, he was a bit angry. None of his brother had even mentioned his birthday yet. Have they forgotten it? Or weren't he important enough?

His thoughts darkened even more as Master Splinter ordered another special practice, just for him, while his brothers were free to do what they want. When even his father think not to mention his 18th birthday, it was definitely not worth enough to talk about it.

"Are you distracted by something, my son?" his Sensei asked as he has done wrong the exercise for the third time, which was rather uncommon for Leo. He flighted his emotions down and decided not to talk about it.

"No, Sensei. I'm fine".

He felt Master Splinter's suspicious look on him, but was glad as he didn't continue to question him further.

"Alright. You may go now, my son. It's already late and you should rest some time." Leo nodded, and without any other word, he left the practice room. He was getting more and more angry. The day was nearly over, and nobody had mentioned his special day. He had the feeling that his family didn't need him anyway. That he was unimportant. Why else would they forget his birthday?

As he went to the living room, he saw his brothers chilling around; Mikey and Raph in front of the television, Donnie was about to repair the microwave.

"How was practice, fearless?" Raphie asked and put on a grin. _Oh, this was going to be good,_ he thought.

Leo pressed his lips together before he answered. He swallowed down his emotions and just said. "As always. I'll go sleeping... Obviously you guys have something better to do than to spend some time with me, anyway."

Without looking back, he trudged to his room. He heard Mikey giggling behind him, but he didn't care. He was furious. His brothers had truly forgotten his birthday. How could they?

For as long as he remembered back, he's always been there for his family. Was it so hard to make ONE day a bit special for him? Or to just mentioned that it was cool that he was getting older? He knew he wasn't able to hide it, but truth was, he was disappointed. However, he still decided not to talk with his family about it. If he wasn't important enough for mentioning his birthday, they wouldn't listen to him anyway.

Sighing, he opened his door to his room and just wanted the day to be over. Maybe he was going to fall asleep soon...

But then, as he opened the door, he couldn't believe what he saw.

Over his bed, there was a huge banner saying "Happy birthday, Leo", written in colored letters. He found balloons and garlands everywhere and his bed was decorated with balloons, too as well as with presents, birhtday cards, confettis... and a huge cake.

Speechless, he stood there.

"Do you like it, bro?"

He turned around and saw his brothers and Master Splinter standing behind him. Leo didn't know what to say. How could he think that his family would forget him? God, he was so.. selfish.

Ashamed, he looked down. "Guys.. I... I..."

"Leo, it's your birthday. Your 18th birthday." Raphie said, and grinned. "You thought we'll forget it, right?"

Still ashamed, Leo nodded. "I'm sorry." he finally whispered. "I thought I'm not important anymore..."

"Bro, you're our eldest brother, and our leader" Donnie interrupted him. "Of course you are important for us."

Mikey nodded. "Yeah, dude... it was just part of the plan... we wanted to give you a biiiiig surprise today."

Leo smiled. "Well, you did good" he said. "So everything was planned?"

Raphie nodded and grinned again. "Yeah, bro. Even Mikey and my argument and Donnie's 'mess' in the lab. Truth was, while Master Splinter distracted you with the practice, we prepared the cake and the presents in your room. So, do you like it?"

Leo turned around and saw his room. "I love it" he said and turned around to his brothers and Sensei again. He smiled brightly "And I love you, too."

With that, they all went into the room and celebrated Leonardo's 18th birthday. In the end, Leo thought that he'd the best family of the world and was glad to have them all.

 **The end :) Yep, that's it... did you like it? Don't forget to review and tell me what you think about it. Maybe you have some other ideas for a oneshot story?**

 **Love**

 **Cupcake01**


	3. Darkness

**Hi everybody! I hope you are all doing great. I hurried to write a new story just for you. I have to say that I'll go to London for a week next on saturday and I won't be able to post anything there. That's why you'll get two stories in such a short time- so, say YAY ;) Also, thanks again for your lovely reviews - you guys are truly awesome and I really really start to enjoy writing TMNT stories :)**

 **So, here's the next one. As a kind of self-interest, I wanted to write one were Leo has a kind of phobia and a over protective Raphael. Well, you can guess it from the title and summary what it will be about ;)**

 **Summary: As Raphael and Leo wanted to go home from their patrol, they got trapped in the sewers due to an earthquake.**

"But you have to admit, bro, that we did a good old kick-ass to that foot" Raphie grinned to his elder brother. Leo smiled back.

"Yeah...right" he said, still smiling. But you should listen to me, sometimes. If there would have been too many, and wouldn't have had that much luck, we could be dead. I think we still should have pulled back, and not provoke them, like you did"

That fact couldn't prevent Raphie from continuing smiling brightly. "Yeah yeah... you know, sometimes I think your 'fearless' image doesn't fit you"

Now Leo's smile vanished. This was a sensitive topic to the blue-masked turtle, since he never liked it if his younger brother called him like that. It always had that sarcastic aftertaste.

However, he has to admit that his brother was right. They had been out on patrol earlier, and then the Foot had attacked. Leo wanted to pull back indeed, because he was scared that they wouldn't be able to beat them alone. However, as always, Raphie didn't listen and just had attacked them back. Luckily, the Foot had been so surprised that they had been easily to beat and of course, Raphael's triumph couldn't wait long. Now, they were on the way home. Their mood was good, since they had been beating up the Foot and surprisingly, they hadn't argued once the whole evening. It seemed like the brothers had found themselves, and Leo didn't want to destroy it with a stupid comment.

He just murmured "You have no idea" and didn't continued talking after Raphie's questioning look. Truth was, he never was fearless. Sure, he was the leader, but he was always worried. Not about himself, but he could never forgive himself if something happened to one of his family members. That was why he didn't like the nickname "fearless". It was like he was called after a lie.

"What was that?" Raphael suddenly stopped. Their dojo was just a few passages away and Leo wanted to get home. They were late anyway.

Leo thought that Raphie was referring to his comment. "Nothing.. I just..." he begun, but was interrupted.

"No, call me crazy, but... , I felt something... it was like a the floor was shaking a bit"

Leo shook his head. "I didn't feel..."

Suddenly, there was it. Additionally to the sudden noise, the earth was shaking underneath him. Concrete seemed to fall down everywhere, and they had to protect their heads with their arms. He was about to look after Raphie, who desperately tried to clamp on the wall. "Earthquake!" he called, but Leo couldn't hear him anyway. He was too concentrated to not fall down, when, underneath his feet, there was suddenly building up a big black hole where a second before had been hard concrete. Before Leo could do something, he lost balance and wasn't able to find hold anywhere. He felt air underneath his feet and fell... And with Raphies voice calling after him, he fell, surely a few 10 metres into black. As his head hit something hard, he lost consciousness.

...

"Leo, can you hear me?"

What was that... no, more important: What the shell happened?

"Leo, damn it! Answer me finally!"

Leonardo groaned in agony as he tried to open his eyes. However, he could not see much. It was dark - and he didn't like it very much. Where was he? Why was he in so much pain?

"Leo, come on bro... you can't do that to me..."

Wait, where does the voice come from? Oh, right... sounded like it was coming from his shell phone. It was lying next to him, as Leo remarked by the voice, which was obviously coming from Raph.

"Ouch... Raphie?" He murmured into the phone and had to cough. Now that he was awake, he remarked that his mouth was try. And he felt dizzy and sick - maybe it was coming from the head wound where blood was dripping down?

"Leo!" he heard his brother. Leo frowned, although it hurt to do so. Why sounded he so worried? Raph never sounds worried, right? Then, he had no idea where his brother was. And again, he wondered what had happened.

"Leo... are you okay? Are you hurt? Have you..."

He got headache from Raphies nervous (and loud) babbling and he found it hard to concentrate. Well, was he okay? Good question, actually.

"Raphie... what... where?" He managed to asked, when he had to cough again. The air was rather sticky. As he tried to move, he felt a sharp pain on his back. _Great_ he thought sarcastically. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes. Obviously, he had a concussion and his shell was broken. And it was dark... so dark...

...

Raphie was so relieved to hear his brother's voice through the shell phone. After the earthquake, he was glad to find himself uninjured. However, his big brother was vanished - and all he had seen was the big black hole where Leo must have fallen into as the floor was splitting up. For what seemed like an endless long time, he managed to find his shell phone (and, oh wonder, it wasn't destroyed). First, he had had to call Leo, but as his brother didn't answer, he had phoned his brother Donnie, who, thankfully, had answered instantly. He had told Raphie that the earthquake had left its traces in the dojo, too, but nobody had been hurt and neither something had gotten destroyed heavily. He had promised the red masked turtle to come as soon as possible and had ordered that Raphie should continue and trying to reach Leo.

So now, Raphi was sitting beside the hole, worried sick about his brother, who hasn't give a sigh of life for almost half an hour after the earthquake. And then, as he heard his brother's voice, it sounded so... vulnerable. His brother must be injured badly, and he sighed as he heard the confusing, nearly whispered, words coming from the shell phone in his hands.

"Leo, you gotta listen to me, okay?" Raphie asked, but didn't wait for an answer. He knew that Leo's shape wasn't that good, and he had to keep his brother awake. Which meant talking and motivating, so he didn't dare to close his eyes. "You gotta stay awake, and Donnie and Mikey and I will be there soon. Everything's going to be okay, alright, bro?"

"F-fine." That was all. Raphie wondered if Leo had even got everything he had said.

"Good. You gotta keep your eyes open, bro." It was strange, but Raphie found it not so easy to start a conversation with his brother. Maybe because the circumstances were a bit... difficult.

"Raphie... it's so dark" Raphie sighed. Leo's voice was nothing more than a whisper by now, and he sounded as he was definitely in pain. Not good. He hoped that Donnie and Mikey would reach him soon.

"You gotta keep your eyes open... don't you dare to give up, Leo!"

...

Leo was afraid of the darkness. Well, not really. However, the situation gave him the opinion, that lights would be an advantage.

From that point, he wasn't even sure if he had his eyes open or not. Obviously, it made no difference. Pitch-black. He groaned again, as he felt his head pounding even more. He didn't dare to move, as he didn't know where he was and how robust the floor was. Plus, he didn't feel like moving anyway, since he found out about his broken shell. So, all he could do was to Raphie's rather concerned voice and to try to reply him from time to time. His brother had told him to keep his eyes open, and he decided that it was best to say that he would do so. Truth was, he didn't want to see the darkness. He wanted to go home.

"R-raphie..." he said into the phone with his shaking voice. _Damn it, Leo_ , he told himself. _Keep yourself together. Raphie wouldn't like to see his fearless brother like that._

"When... when did you say you will come and rescue me?"

"Don't worry, bro... Donnie and Mikey will be there by any minute."

Leo didn't know why, but that didn't calm him really. The darkness didn't go away; he was alone (despite Raphis voice), and he was hurt. He just...

"Raphie!" he said, getting panicked. He didn't care anymore if Raphie found him weak afterwards. He just needed some distraction for the time that he would be trapped in here.

"Bro, calm down." If Leo hadn't been in this sticky situation, he would've laughed. _Calm down? Really?_

He knew that this was some kind of panic attack - but he didn't want to calm down. He had to calm down his whole life - he was allowed to have some panic, right now at least!

"Raphie... I ... I can't breath!" in his mind, the air was going to be sticky. Indeed, It was as his breath was being cut off by the darkness. He needed to get out!

"Leo! Okay, buddy... deep breaths... I know you can do that, you talked about that mediation thing you had learned from Master Splinter all the time... Okay, take a deep breath in, and out... and repeat that... and concentrate on my voice, okay, bro?"

Leo nodded, although he knew that Raphie couldn't see him. He did what his brother ordered. Breath in, breath out. Listen to Raphie. That's good.

...

Damn it, Leo was having a panic attack. Raphie didn't know what to do - usually it was Leo who would calm _him_ down. However, hadn't Leo taught him something about meditation lately?

As he ordered his brother what to do, he was scared himself. His "fearless" brother had problems down there... And he was doing nothing!

"Better, bro?" he asked hopefully into the shell phone. For an endless minute, he didn't get an answer, but then...

"Y-yeah." he heard his whisper. "S-sorry... G-guess I'm not your fearless brother a-anymore"

Shocked, Raphie looked up. "Leo!" he paused, decide to choose his words wisely. "Don't you dare to think that you are weak or somethin'! Because you ain't... you are the bravest... the best leader we could have, okay? Truth is, no-one of us could do this job - so don't give up, we still need you,bro!"

He heard a bitter laugh from the shell phone, which ended in a cough. "'lright" Raphie heard his brother speaking again. "But... y-you got to hurry up. _M-my_ lights will go out any time, t-too"

Raphie had to held tears. No, his brother wasn't going to die in that hole there! Not today, and not in anytime soon!

However, just in the moment as Raphie wanted to reply something, he heard the shell racer arriving.

"'s about time" he told his brother Donnie and Mikey as they got out from the shell racer.

"Sorry... some bigger stones were blocking the exit. We would've been there earlier... So, Leo's down there?" Donnie pointed down the hole

Raphie nodded. "Yep. Hurry up, poor Leo seemed to be hurt badly... and he I swear, if he didn't get out of there soon..."

"Okay okay... we're going on the work... Mikey, could you please get the ropes?"

...

 _10 hours later_

Leo felt that he was lying on his back. Damn it, it was dark again! Why was it dark? What...

"Bro?" he heard a soft voice beside him. Strange, sounded like Raphie...

"Bro, come on, open your eyes already. You scared me already enough." What the... he scared Raph?

Well, maybe he should open his eyes. But then again, it would be dark, right? It had been dark before... but... maybe should try to open his eyes?

"Where..." he coughed, but left his eyes closed "Where a-am I..." it was not more than a whisper and Leo was shocked from his own voice. And why was it so hard to move?

"Easy, bro..." he heard Raphie saying and a warm hand on his shoulder. If Raphie was beside him, then he wasn't in the hole anymore?

He finally managed to open his eyes - and saw Raphael's concerned face in front of him. However, as soon as his younger brother knew that he was okay (more or less), his facial expression became a bit harder. _Typically Raphie,_ Leo thought. He tried to smile, but it was more a grimace. He felt his head pounding again.

"Good to see you awake, sleeping beauty" his brother teased. "You wanna somethin' to drink?"

Leo just nodded. After Raphie had put a glass of water (mixed with painkillers from Donnie) to his lips and he had drunk some sips, he wanted to ask what had happened. The last thing he knew was talking to Raphie in the hole and the pain. He looked around. Obviously, he was in his room, lying on his own bed. _Thank god,_ he thought reliefed. However, his head still hurt.

"You have a concusion, and your shell is cracked" Raphie explained. "Thankfully, Donnie and Mikey came in time to rescue you before you slept in, otherwise you could have fallen into coma."

Leo looked up, shocked to see his brother looking down ashamed. "Raphie..."

"I should have done something! I couldn't even help you with staying awake..."

"It's not your fault bro... "Leo replied, and coughed again. He was getting tired. Maybe because of the painkillers that were mixed in the water. "Listen... I was scared myself... although I know I shouldn't." Raphie looked up again, but didn't interrupt Leo. "Y-you know.. I don't like the darkness... I-it made me carzy, and your voice was the only thing that was calming me down"

Surprised, Raph hold his hand. He didn't know that his brother was afraid of the dark. "Leo... Why didn't you tell me?" he wanted to know. He remarked that Leo's eyes looked tired again.

"I... I thought you will think that I'm w-weak."

There was a pause, and Leo was ashamed. However, now that Raphie knew his secret, he also felt better, somehow.

"Leo." Raphie begun, and held Leo's hand tighter. "Sure, I'll be teasing you sometimes... but I'll never think that you are weak. Never ever! Everybody has some... secrets, it's just normal. You don't need to hide them in front of your family... at least, not in front of me. And I'm sorry if.. if I let you feel like you can't talk with me about it."

Leo nodded. "Th-thanks. Really good to know that I can come to you..." he yawned. Some sleep would be good by now - and this time, he was sure to wake up with lights.

He closed his eyes.

"Any time, bro... and now, sleep well." Leo heard his brother saying. Then, finally, Leo slept in.

"And I'll never let anything like this happen to you again" Raphie whispered, as he knew that Leo wouldn't hear him. It wasn't only a vow for his brother - but for his whole family.

 **and that's it :) whoa... it was so hard to find a appropriate end for this story - I hope I did a rather good job. Please don't forget to review and leave me prompts - I'm already looking forward to write the next story for** **yukio87 ...I hope you'll like it :)** **  
**

 **xoxo**

 **Cupake01**


	4. Sick

**Hi guys! Here I am with another story for this one-shot collection. This time, it's a request from a reader; and since I've been sick myself for the last 2 days, I found it quite fitting :) So, here it is, your story** yukio87 **I hope you'll like it :)**

 **P.S Reviews (and Prompts!) are, as always appreciated. And, thanks so much for the last reviews - you guys are so motivating and I love to read what you think about my stories 3**

 **Summary: Leo is sick, but hides it from his brothers. Can somebody talk sense into the blue masked turtle?**

As Leo looked down at his breakfast, he really didn't feel good. He had tried to eat some oatmeal, which was his favorite breakfast actually, together with some tea. However, as he took one spoon into his mouth, he knew that it wouldn't be a good idea. His stomach protested as well as he tried to take some sips of his black tea.

"'s everything alright, fearless?" Raphael asked him. Leo was surprised not to hear a sarcastic undertone in his brother's voice. However, he decided that it he maybe just stood up with the wrong foot and won't let his brothers now that he wasn't feeling well. They would probably laugh at him, anyway.

"Yeah, I'm good" the blue masked turtle answered. Nevertheless, he felt the suspicious looks of his brothers on him. "I'm just not hungry, that's all..."

Now Donnie looked up from the table. Leo was always worried about them if they didn't eat their breakfast. 'It's the most important meal on a day' he remembered his brother saying. That's why he found it a bit odd as he saw his brother poking around his food.

"Leo, you should eat something. We'll have practice later, and you'll need your strength" Donnie begun. "I heard Master Splinter murmuring to himself yesterday that he wants to try out this new fighting exercise with you..."

"Yeah, bro" Mikey continued as Leo wanted to protest. "You said it yourself: 'No breakfast, no strength'" Raphie laughed as Mikey tried to mimic Leo's voice rather exaggerated.

"Na... I'll be fine" Leo just said and stood up. Now as he stood, he felt his stomach protesting even more; he felt dizzy too and his head started to ache. Damn it, what was up with him? He really didn't need to be sick right now... he had so much to do; he had promised Mikey help him with a drawing project, then there was the mentioned training and he also had confirmed Donnie to help him in the Lab with some kind of experiment. There was no time to be sick.

"Mikey, I'll go and prepare what we'll need for later, alright?" Leo hoped that nobody of his brothers had remarked his sudden dizziness and wanted to leave them quickly.

"Sure, bro... " Mikey said and went on with his breakfast again.

Quickly, Leo left the kitchen and went into his room. Breathing heavily, he found it cold, all of a sudden. Why was it cold? He also had the impression that his headache was getting worse, and he knew that that was a bad sign. However, he still wasn't sure if he should tell anyone. Raphie would start teasing him, anyway. And also, he didn't want to disappoint Mikey and Donnie if he'd let them alone with their plans. And Master Splinter - well, he'd certainly think that he was weak or something if he would ask to skip practice.

So, Leo decided to sit down on his bed. He remarked that his hands were shaking and hoped that it wouldn't affect is practice skills, later.

 _Damn it, keep yourself together,_ Leo thought. He just hoped that the day would be over quickly and that his illness wouldn't be worse and that he'd get better.

...

It was worse.

His sick feeling was at least endurable before the practice, but afterwards, he was barely able to stand straight. Luckily, his brothers and Master Splinter didn't asked about him, and right after practice was over, he went straight to the bathroom. As he looked into the mirror, he was shocked how he looked like. He was pale, sweat was flowing down his face; his brothers must had think that he was like that because of Master Splinter's exercises and that he was just tired.

Truth was, that he was certain to have some kind of flu. Mikey had had one two weeks before - could it be that he caught it from his brother?

Well, nevertheless, he thought that he still should conceal his sickness; maybe he was feeling better after he'd refreshed himself.

"Leo, are you coming?" he suddenly was startled by Donnie's voice from behind the closed bathroom door. Leo closed his eyes. Right, he had promised Donatello to help him with his experiment...

"Y-yeah, I'll be in the lab in a view minutes" Leo called back. He hoped that Donnie hadn't recognize his shaking voice. Luckily, he heard his brother wandering off. Leo sighed, washed his face with some cold water. However, it didn't help much.

...

He should've known that there was something wrong. First, it was strange that Leo didn't want to eat his breakfast. That should have been a first sign that something was wrong - Leo usually _insisted_ on having a breakfast. And then, there was the practice. Raphie had pinned his brother down within seconds. Well, Raphael was good, but Donnie knew that Leo would beat Raphie, if he wanted.

And then, Leo was even calmer as usual. Even Mikey told him that Leo hadn't talked much with him during their drawing project and soon after the practice the blue masked turtle vanished into the bathroom.

Rather worriedly, he went after him, but the door was closed. Because he didn't want to bother him, Donnie just decided to ask if his brother wanted to come to help him in the lab, as he had promised him the day before. As Leo said to him that he would come in a few minutes, Donnie thought of course that there wasn't a problem. Later, he would tell him that he should've asked his brother about his strange behavior, too.

...

As Leo walked out of the bathroom to go to Donnie's Lab, his dizziness was getting worse. His head pounded like crazy, and beside his hands, his legs were shaking now, too. Slowly Leo began to think that it would've been better that he should've told anybody of his family about his state. Now, it was certainly too late - they would just tease him, anyway.

"Okay, Leo... this is what you've got to do... Donnie begun as he heard his brother walking into the lab. As he turned around, to see Leo, he interrupted himself. Leo was pale, and sweat drops were distributed over his face. He looked... not good.

"Wow, bro... are you okay?" Donnie asked. _Stupid question... of course he's not_ Donnie answered for himself.

However, Leo just sighed deeply. "Yep. I'm fine, as I told you already. Now, what did you want me to do?" Donnie frowned. It was rather unusual that Leo snapped at him like that. Nevertheless, his brother was responsible for himself, and also the leader - so he should be reasonable enough to tell him if something was wrong. Again, Donnie decided not to bother him.

"Well, since you're good at staying calm, I wondered if you could held this cable here while I'm working on this new machine, and the cable needs to hang calmly for short while, but I cannot tape it down..."

"Sure"

Leo was glad that Donnie was someone who talked a lot - so it didn't have to talk himself, too. However, Donnie's task seemed to be rather difficult. Of course, usually Donnie was right that he was calm. Unfortunately, as Leo hold the cable, he wasn't able to hide the trembling hands anymore.

"Leo... your hands are shaking..." Donnie suddenly remarked. It was true - His brother couldn't hold the hands still, and it was certain that his brother didn't feel good. Now that he observed him closely, It was obvious - the paleness, his reduction of food; Leo was sick, probably a flu or something. Maybe he had caught the virus from Mikey, who had shown the same symptoms some weeks before.

"What?" Leo looked up. That was not such a good idea - he felt another pounding in his head and a new wave of dizziness was overwhelming him. It was getting more cold, too. And it was hard to focus on Donnie's voice.

"Ok, bro... I know something's wrong... come on, sit down" Donnie said, wanting to lead his brother onto a chair.

"No... I-I'm okay... r-really." Leo tried to explain. Nevertheless, his voice vanished and suddenly, his legs gave in.

"Leo!" Shocked, Donnie managed to reach his brother before he hid the floor. Unfortunately, Leo already had already fainted as he caught his brother.

As he felt his forehead, it was hot - too hot.

Donnie sighed. He wondered since when his brother had been hiding the sickness.

...

Leo felt strange when he woke up. It was as if he had slept, but was it didn't help at all. He was still tired, and his head was aching. Wait, why was he lying in his bed anyway? Hadn't he been in the lab with his brother a minute before?

"Leo? Are you finally finished with sleeping?"

That was Donnie, obviously. But why did he sound so... annoyed? Despite the fact that his eyes were so heavy, he decided that he should probably try to open them.

He managed to lift them, at least to the half. At first, he saw the blurred lines of his room which was, thankfully, darkened. His head was still feeling not that good.

He wanted to get up, but was pushed back by his brother.

"Nope, you'll stay in bed for the next few days. And don't even try to protest." he heard his brother speaking to him quietly, but strictly.

As Leo still felt a bit disorientated, he wanted to know what exactly had happened.

"D-donnie..?" he croaked with a horse voice. He was shocked by the sound of it. "Why..." he had to cough

"First, you drink this"

Gratefully, Leo drank some sips of the glass of water that Donnie held on his lips. As the liquid ran down his throat, he felt instantly better. He had a feeling that Donnie had mixed some medicine into it.

Donnie placed the glass of water beside the bed and sat down on the chair next to the bedside table. "Feeling better?" he asked.

Leo nodded. "Why..." he coughed again, but continued soon afterwards. "What happened?"

"I should ask _you_ " Donnie commented.

Not understanding what he meant, Leo just shrugged his shoulders. "I... d-don't know what you're talking about."

"Leo!" The blue masked turtle shrieked up from Donnie's louder voice. "For heaven's sake, bro... you are sick." Donnie paused. "And you hid it... why didn't you say anything?"

Now Leo got it. Donnie was appointed that he didn't tell anything.

"I... well, I had so much to do, and I..." Leo avoided to look into his brothers eyes. "And I didn't want to let you down with... with your projects."

"Oh, Leo..." Donnie sighed. He took his brother's hand. "Bro, that's so stupid!"

Now Leo looked up again. He definitely hadn't expected an answer like that. However, he knew that his second youngest brother was known to say his opinion, and if it comes to the health of a family member, he was always like lecturing them. So, that was what was going on.

"You are our leader... you should be reasonable enough to _not_ hide something like this. You..." Donnie tried to find the right words. "You are our eldest brother. I know, you have to do a lot, but you _are_ allowed to rest sometimes. And we need you... which means, you should pay attention on your health, too. Mikey and Raphie... and Master Splinter had been worried sick about you... and me too."

"I'm sorry..." Leo looked down again. " I didn't mean to scare you... I... wasn't sure if you would take it seriously if I was sick and... I just wanted to h-help you"

Leo yawned. He was even more tired now, and his eyes were getting heavier.

"Bro, we will always take you serious" Donnie said, and finally, Leo believed him. "And now, promise me that, whenever you're feeling not so good, you're coming to even one of the others or me, alright?"

"Promised..." Leo yawned again.

Leo closed his eyes, but opened them once again. "Thanks, Donnie" he managed to murmur, before the sleep was overwhelming him.

"No, problem, big brother" Donnie replied. As he observed his sleeping brother, Donnie recognized that Leo hadn't really someone who protect someone. However, he was glad that, at least in future, Leo would listen to him when it comes to his health.

 **And that's it :) I really hoped that you like it and I'm already excited for your reviews. Prompts are also welcomed, of course :)**

 **xoxo**

 **Cupcake01**


	5. That's what brothers are for

**Hi guys! I'm back from my London trip (yes, it was amazing :D) and I'm ready for some new stories. Thank you so much for the last reviews, you guys are so kind - I was so happy to read from you and you always know how to motivate me :)**

 **So, here's finally the next story. I hope you like it as well, and don't forget to review and/or to send me prompts.**

 **Cupcake01**

 **Summary: Leo has to watch his brothers, but something goes wrong. Leo gets the blame from Master Splinter. Why? And what will happen later? Well, you've got to read it on your own ;)**

The day started as any other day. Leo woke up on his futon, rather early. After refreshing himself, he went straight into the kitchen. As usually, he was one of the first in the Hamada family to be awake. He was certain that his father was in the dojo, but his brothers would come later probably. He liked the calm mornings, without stress. Just himself and his tea.

Not that he didn't like to hang out with his brothers. He loved every single of his brothers, and he enjoyed to spend time with them. However, lately, their relationship was kind of... difficult. He didn't know why. Sometimes, they didn't argue for weeks, but then there are those days were there just has to be a small thing to bring his brothers to act against him.

He sighed as he took another sip of his tea. He hoped that today would be a peaceful days. Especially Raphael seemed to be rebellious. He put everything in question that Leo ordered. And of course, the two youngest brothers, especially Mikey, seemed to be impressed by Raphie's courage to say his opinion.

Sometimes, Leo wished that it would be easier to be the leader. Sure, he was the eldest brother, at times like these, he wished that he didn't have to play the calm and 'fearless' brother. He wanted to show them that he did certain things for their own good and protection. Master Splinter always told him that his job, his role was probably the difficult one. As he started to be 'the leader', he didn't understand his father's words. However, now, with the experience, he began begin more about it. And sometimes, he has to give him right.

"Are you alright, my son?" He suddenly heard Master Splinter's voice behind him. Leo nearly shrieked up; He was that captured from his thoughts that he didn't hear his father approaching. However, Leo managed to stay calm.

"Yes father, everything is fine. I'm just tired, that's all."

As Splinter looked at him suspiciously for a second, he knew that the ninja master wouldn't believe him. "You seem to think a lot, lately. I can see that something is bothering you, Leonardo."

There was a short moment as Leo wanted to tell his Master about his doubts. However, he changed his minds. He has to solve the problem with his brothers on his own. It wouldn't be good if Splinter interfered.

Leo shook his head. "No, I'm fine, really. Thanks for asking, though."

Thankfully, Master Splinter seemed to understand that he didn't want to speak with him. "Alright. I have to go and make some errands today." Leo looked up surprised. He thought that today was practice program. "You have to watch your brothers for today, as always. You are not allowed to go upstairs, though. Otherwise, you and your brothers have a free day today. I will come back in the evening."

Leo nodded. It wasn't the first time that he had to watch his brothers. "No problem, Sensei. Everything will be as always when you return."

The Sensei nodded too in agreement and went outside.

Leo sighed once again. Now that Master Splinter was gone, he could hear that his brothers were awake.

...

 _Later during the day  
_

"What? Why can't we go outside?" Raphie asked.

"Because" Leo tried to explain calmly, " Master Splinter said that we weren't allowed to."

It was the same discussion as always. Raphie couldn't understand that the rules were made to protect the family. "Look Raphie, I want to go outside, too. But Master Splinter..."

"Yeah yeah... I know damn well what he said."

Leo sighed. It wasn't good that Raphie had _this_ voice. It was the angry ' _I'm-not-listening-to-you'_ voice. Helpfully, Leo looked around. Donnie was in the kitchen, repairing the microwave. And Mikey sat on the couch, watching some kind of cartoons.

"I'm bored too..." he heard the youngest brother calling form the couch. "Why can't we do something fun?"

Leo tried it again. "Because, as I said..."

"OH, now it's you who ordered to stay at home?" Raphie suddenly countered harshly.

"No, that's not what I..."

"You know what, I don't care what you said." Raphael interrupted his brother. Not surprised, Leo looked up. He had heard those words quite often from Raphie, however, it still hurt when he talked like that. "You can't control me... and I think, you can't control the rest of this family, fearless."

"Raphie, I just wanted to... " he began again, but Raphie cut his words.

"Come on, Mikey... let's go out of here."

"You're sure?" Mikey asked with his innocent voice. "Maybe we should..."

"I said, let's GO!"

Without a warning, the two turtles rushed by their brother and went outside of the dojo. Leo didn't even had a chance to stop them.

"Wait, come back!" Leo called out - although it was, of course, too late. "Raphie!"

Great - he had promised to his Sensei to watch his brothers. And now, two of them just stormed out of the dojo, and he hadn't even a chance to keep them save in the sewers. What a leader he was!

"You... should probably go after them" he heard Donnie's voice behind him.

Leo turned around. "Yeah... you're right. Uh... could you maybe track them through the shell phone or so?" he asked. Leo wasn't really in the mood to search his brother. And he knew Raphie well enough that he didn't want to be found soon.

However, in the moment as Donnie wanted to reply his shell phone rang. As he looked on the screen, he was surprised that it was Raphael who called. Now he was more concerned, though. Raphie and Mikey just stormed out of the dojo a minute ago, hadn't he? Why would he call?

"Raphie?" Leo replied the phone. He was worried that something had happened, even if it was in such a short time. He felt Donnie's hand on his shoulder.

"Leo, we... uh, we need some help here"

Damn it, what was up with Raphie? He didn't sound as furious as before... his voice was more... worried and it sounded as if he was embarrassed. And Raphie was never sounded like that.

"Raphael, what happened?" Leo asked. "You just were gone, you couldn't be in so much trouble, could you?"

"No... it's not that bad" Leo was relieved that his brother's voice was more calm right now. Nevertheless, he was still excited. "You and Donnie better come... We're just around the corner... Mikey's hurt"

"What?!" Leo asked himself how Mikey had managed to injure himself in less than five minutes. However, as he thought more about his youngest brother, he knew how goofy he could be, sometimes at least.

"Could you just come, please? He can't stand up and chuckle head is too heavy that I can carry him myself." As much as Leo wanted to scream to his brother, he knew that this was the moment to stay calm and get the situation into control again.

"Yeah... right. We're coming."

He hang up and as Donnie observed him with a questioning look, he sighed. "We got to go, Mikey's hurt. You better take the first aid kit with you."

Thankfully, Donnie just nodded, without asking more. The second youngest brother was used to the others to get in trouble. However, it was something unusual that they get into trouble _that_ quick. But first, it was important to get Raphie and Mikey home safe and sound.

...

"Does it still hurt?" Leo asked concerned as he and his brothers were gathered in the lab. He and Donnie had found their other two brothers quickly. Obviously, Mikey had sprained the ankle of his right leg as Raphie and he had rushed out of the dojo that quickly. It was nothing dramatically, and _Dr._ Donnie announced that Mikey had to keep his foot calm for at least two weeks.

"No, it's okay. I guess Donnie's painkillers will help me through the worse." Leo nodded and tried to suppress a grin. He was the only one who knew that Donnie didn't really use painkillers for such small injuries because they were too expensive. Donnie once told him that he mostly mixed some vitamins into the water. However, it worked and their brothers believed that they were taking real painkillers. Mikey yawned.

"Uh... if you don't mind, I'd like to go to sleep."

Leo nodded. "Sure. Donnie told that lying was the best, anyway. So, I hope no more outbreaks today?" He smiled and looked to Raphie. They hadn't really talked about the argument, and there was a strange atmosphere in the room

"Very funny, fearless." Raphie looked embarrassed though. He felt guilty because he had pulled Mikey and himself into trouble as he hadn't listen to Leo.

"I'll go and help Mikey to go to bed. I guess he shouldn't walk alone to his room" Donnie said and supported Mikey to get out of the room.

It was a bit strange as Raphie and Leo were alone. "So..." Leo started, but he stopped as he didn't know what to say.

"What do you want to hear now?" Raphie said harshly. "That I'm sorry? You know that I won't apologize. I don't regret what I said."

With that, Raphie stormed out, leaving his brother alone. "Yeah, you never regret anything" Leo whispered to himself. However, he knew that his brother didn't mean what he said. It was just... his way to express his emotions. He knew that his brother felt guilty, even if he didn't show it. Maybe he would be more rational later.

"Leonardo!"

He suddenly heard Master Splinter's voice from outside. Obviously, he'd come back... at the best timing. Damn it, he'd forgotten about this... He'd promised to watch his brothers and that nothing would happen... and the exact opposite has happened. _Just great._

 _"_ Yes, Sensei?" Leonardo said as his father entered the lab. Splinter didn't look that... happy.

"I just heard from Donatello what had happened. You had to watch your brothers, and I saw that Raphael had caused Michaelangelo's injury. Do you want to tell me something about it?"

Leo didn't know what Donnie told him, but he decided not let his brothers get involved even more.

"It wasn't Raphie's fault, Sensei" he explained instantly. "I..." he looked down at the floor. "I didn't watch my brothers and so he got hurt. That's what happened."

Surprised, his Sensei looked at him. "Are you sure, my son?"

Now Leo looked up, in his father's eye. "Yes, father. It was all my fault. I'm sorry."

Splinter nodded. "You know that you have to do some extra practice. And I want you to clean the dojo for two months, starting by tomorrow." Splinter's voice was severe, but his look was soft. Inwardly, the ninja master knew that Leo wanted to protect Raphael and not to tell that it was actually his brother's fault.

Leo nodded, too. "Yes, Sensei. Can I go now?"

"Yes, my son."

...

At the same time, outside of the lab, Raphael had heard his Master and Leo talking. And he was surprised - why had Leo remained quiet about what really happen? Particularly, after what he'd said to him...

He sighed as he heard his Sensei giving Leo the extra practice and the other penalty. It should be himself getting the blame...

He felt guilty. Maybe he should talk to Leo. Actually, he felt bad enough for what had happened to Mikey. And now, Leo got punished because of him. He had to get those things right.

As he heard that Leo would leave the room, he quickly hid behind the door, so his brother wouldn't see him. Leo went straight to Mikey's room - obviously, he wanted to sit with his brother.

Raphie sighed again. That day didn't end as he had imagined.

...

 _The next morning_

Leo sighed deeply as he was about to clean the dojo. He hated it - but he had to do it. He would never betray Raphie and tell Splinter what really happened, even if it meant that he had to polish their room, which really wasn't his favorite thing to do.

"Mind if I join you?"

Surprised, he heard his brother Raphael behind him. The red masked turtle looked him in his eye, and Leo saw the guilt in them, although Leo know that he didn't want to show it.

"Sure..." Leo said, although he couldn't imagine why Raphie wanted to help him. His brother hated cleaning as much as he did.

Raphie nodded and took a cloth to dust off the table. Without more words, they continued their work.

"Uh... " Raphie suddenly started and turned around to his brother. "I heard you an' Splinter talkin' yesterday."

Oh... Damn. Leo didn't want that that happened. He didn't want to get his brother even more. "Raphie, I..." Leo said, but got interrupted.

"You didn't had to do this, you know" Raphie continued. "Why didn't you tell dad what really happened?"

Leo looked up. That was an easy question. "Because it's my job"

"What do you mean, by 'it's your job'?" Raphie asked.

"You know, I failed to watch you, although I'm supposed to be the leader. I'm responsible for you, for everything that happens. I thought I didn't want to get you into trouble."

Raphie looked back, now with a curious voice. "But... you even took the blame although I wasn't... really nice to you." It wasn't a question. However, Leo continued.

"As I told you, it's my job. I would do the same every time. That's what brothers are for" the blue masked turtle explained.

Raphie looked down."Even if I'm..." he stopped, tried to find the right words. "a hot head like that?"

Leo smiled. "Sure. Even then. You are my bro, and even if we argue sometimes, you are my family. Just like Donnie, Mikey and Splinter are."

Raphie nodded and continued to clean the table. And then, after some more minutes, Leo heard it.

"I'm sorry, bro."

Leo looked up again. He'd never heard Raphie saying those words, to anybody. Especially not to him. However, it was good to hear. he knew that the argues won't ever really stop, but at least he knew that Raphie respected him - as a brother and as a leader.

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Leo said and smiled warmly to his brother. He'd a feeling that their relationship would get better at least.

After that day, Raphael helped Leo with cleaning every day, and even joined the extra practice.

 **Finished :) That story was a bit difficult to end, but I hope I did a good job, though. Don't forget to review and to send me prompts :) and, thanks for reading :)**

 **xoxo**

 **Cupcake 01**


	6. There's always something to learn

**Heyhey TMNT fans! Everytime I publish another oneshot, I'm so overwhelmed from your lovely reviews - thanks so much for your positive motivation :)) For this story, I got a request from flikaroo , who wished a story where Leo learns actually something from his brothers, too. Well, and here it is... I really hope that you are going to like it.**

 **PS.: I'll be a bit more busy for the next weeks (I started my own company - yay^^), so, it will maybe take longer now to publish more stories. But don't worry, I'll try to write as much and as fast as possible. I tried to write this chapter a bit longer as usual, though. - just for you guys ;)  
**

 **But now, no more chattering, here's the promised story. Have fun with reading**

 **Cupcake01**

 **Summary: Leo has some difficulties with his motivation lately. Will his family be able to help him through it?**

It was 4 a.m. That was usually the time when Master Splinter woke up. It was a time of calmness and meditation - and a breakfast in peace and quiet. Of course, he loved to have his sons around him, but sometimes he needed to have some time for himself. And the turtles should to learn to spend some time on their own, too. That was why he preferred to have breakfast that early.

As he made his way to the kitchen to prepare himself some tea, he was surprised. Instead of the usual quietness, he heard some trustful noises coming from the dojo. He already had an idea who it could be, but to be sure, he went to the door and opened it quietly for a small slot to look through.

Of course, it had to be his eldest son, Leonardo. The blue masked turtle obviously practiced some sword exercises he'd learned this week. Splinter saw the sweat dropping down of his son's skin and wondered since when the young leader had been up to practice.

He was very proud of his son - who else would practice the whole night just to be a better ninjutsu? However, as he observed his son secretly, he began to think that it was maybe too much for him. Even a perfect ninjutsu would need some rest sometimes - and he had hardly seen his son resting. Sure, he always used to watch this TV-show, but otherwise, he hardly did _nothing at all._ His brothers, on the other side, had no difficulties to just enjoy their free time. Of course, Donatello sometimes spends too much time in the lab, but even he would stop and play with Michaelangelo. Nobody of the turtles took the ninjutsu job as serious as Leonardo, not even Raphael.

He closed the door to leave Leonardo working alone and went to the kitchen again. As he made himself some tea finally, he began to think that his son wanted to be perfect - but not for himself. The blue masked turtle had always had problem with self-doubts - he obviously wanted to be perfect for his family, especially for his master. And that wasn't good. A leader shall live in harmony with his skills and abilities - he should not learn them for another person, but for himself. Maybe that was a good lecture his son needed to go through - if not, he'd always be depended from an other person's opinion. Or worse, he'd always try to be perfect. And, as Master Splinter found out long ago, _nobody_ could be perfect.

As he took a sip of his tea, he already had an idea how he'd teach his son a lesson about self-doubts and at the same time, he'd learn that even a leader needed a break sometimes.

...

Leo was excited; Master Splinter had promised yesterday to give him a special practice. He usually really enjoyed to have some extra time with his father. He knew that only practice would make him a better ninjutsu, and Master Splinter always knows best how to teach him certain skills. His Sensei hadn't told him what this lecture would be about, though. That was why he was a bit excited - the thrill of learning something new. He'd practice a lot of new fighting styles and he thought that Master Splinter would test him today.

As Leo went into the dojo, he had to suppress a grin. He'd practiced on his own a lot recently, and if Master Splinter would want to test him on his fighting style, he would definitely be prepared. However, he was surprised as he saw his brothers in the room, too. Hadn't Master Splinter told him that this lesson was just for him? Strange enough, they grinned at him as if there was something planned. Suspiciously, he greeted them.

"Oh, uh... good morning, guys... I thought that Master Splinter and I have a practice lesson for today." He stopped. They still looked at him in a rather happy way - even Rapael, and that was really strange.

"We do have a lesson indeed, my son" the Sensei replied. "but I will need the help of your brothers."

Even more surprsed, Leo looked up. Now, that was really strange - Master Splinter needed the help of his younger brothers He began to wonder what the lesson would be about - and he had already a feeling that it wouldn't be a sword practice like the last times.

"O...kay" he stopped. "So, what will I have to learn today?"

"That is for you to find out" Master Splinter continued and after Leo looked at him with an even more confused look, Mikey started to giggle. Splinter wanted his sons to sit down to explain his eldest son the task.

"I know it will be difficult for you, Leornardo" Splinter began. "because today, you are not allowed to be a leader".

"What, but...did I do something wrong?" Now Leonardo was concerned. Why shouldn't he be the leader? Wasn't he doing a good job? Didn't he do enough?

Splinter sighed before he coninued. That lesson would obviously be more difficult as he had thought before."No, Leonardo. But I saw that you have practiced a lot the last time, and you hardly took a break. Believe me when I say, that even the best ninja master needs some rest. And if you are the leader, you would not let the others be responsible for you. So that's why you are not allowed to be the leader today."

Leonardo could understand his master's words, but he didn't like it at all. "But... who will be the leader today?" he looked to his brothers, who had remained silent till then.

"That's none of your business" Raphael said, a bit harshly (as always). "I guess we'll surive one day without your protection. Besides, Master Splinter is here, too. So don't worry."

"Yeah dude, just relax" Mikey continued cheerfully. "Today, we will be responsible for you. See it as a... free day."

A free day. Leonardo thought back but couldn't remember when it was the last time he hadn't be responsible for someone - when he hadn't protect or watch someone.

"And bro, I think it won't get boring at all" Donatello told him. "You can even help me in the lab if you want. But remember, just for fun."

Leo wasn't convinced of the idea yet. It would be strange to do nothing. But as he wanted to protest again, Mikey already took him by the arm and pulled him out of the dojo. "And I will be the best in teaching you to chill - you know, there's that new TV-show I wanted to watch this morning, I'm sure you'll like it..."

Before Leo could turn around to his brothers, he was already pulled out of the dojo, leaving the rest of his family behind him.

"He's in good hands" Donnie grinned, and even Master Splinter had to smile. He hoped that Leonardo learned to relax when he spend more time with his brothers.

...

"Ohhhh, I knew I forgot something" Mikey suddenly said. Leonardo looked up; they were sitting in the living room and the TV show had already started when Mikey run into the kitchen. After some minutes, he came back with a huge bowl filled with popcorn.

"There's no sense in watching TV when there's no food" Mikey explained and put a handful of popcorn in his mouth; somehow, he managed to grin at Leo, so he looked more goofy than ever.

"But it's 9 a.m. - how could you eat popcorn after having breakfast?" Leo asked. He sighed. He thought that this idea of a free day was beginning to get more and more stupid. He could be in the dojo practicing; or doing something more useful.

"Tha' 'ust be'on to'ter" Mikey said with his mouth full of popcorn. As Leo looked at him with a questioning look, he gulped and repeated. "Sorry - I said, uh... that just belong together - you know; I never really thought about it, so I have no problems with eating popcorn after the breakfast."

Leo nodded and both continued to watch the TV show. However, after Leo had thought about Mikey's words, he began to wonder what he had meant.

"Can I ask you something?" he started.

"Sure, bro - you should ask me as much as you can to get at least some of my wisdom" Mikey giggled. Leo had to smile.

"Uh.. what did you mean by you don't think about it? I mean, if I would eat as much as you, I don't know how I looked like... I guess it's not that easy to live without... thinking. At least not for me."

Mikey laughed. "Aw, thanks for the compliment. Well, I guess I'm just living for the moment. I don't think much about the future - that's one of the advantages of being the youngest in the family. And then, you know, you have to see the things in a positive way and everything will be positive. Its kind of... my philosophy."

"So, like Karma?" Leo asked curiously

"Oh you mean, you earn what you do? No, that's not what I meant... I would say, I'm just an optimistic person uh.. turtle. At least I try. Sometimes, it's hard to get rid of bad thoughts, for example it somethings happens to you, or Donnie, Raphie or Master Splinter. But even then I'll say to myself that everything is gonna be okay, and you can see yourself, our live isn't that bad, isn't it?" the youngest turtle smiled to him.

Leo thought about it. Mikey was probably right - if he'd think more positively about the world, he could maybe influence bad situations to turn good. Not the worst thought his youngest brother ever had.

"You know Mikey, that was really kind of... wise" he said appreciatively.

"Thanks bro... good to hear."

Leo thought more about it as they continued to watch the show. He had had been very ambitious lately, even more than usual. Maybe that was why he wasn't that relaxed and always concerned about something. He would try to take things a bit more optimistic in the future.

...

"Hey Leo, could you help me in the lab a bit? I could need some assistance with repairing the shell racer..." Donnie called out from the lab.

Leo looked onto his watch - it was 12 o'clock? How could the time pass that quickly. "Sure, Donnie... I'll come in a minute"

He turned to Mikey, who still sat at the couch. "Guess you've to watch the rest without me."

"No, problem, bro... if you want, I'll record the rest for you"

Leo nodded. "Would be cool - we could watch it together later. Oh, and Mikey..." he had been on his way to Donnie, but turned around for a moment.

Mikey looked at him, with his warm, cheerful eyes. Leo smiled. He hoped that his youngest brother would never loose his positive character. "Thanks for the tip with being not that... concerned about everything. I know I'm sometimes a bit too worried about everything and maybe I'll see things a bit chilled in the future."

"That was the aim, dude" Mikey smiled. "Plus, it was nice spending some time with you. We should do that more often."

Leo nodded, waved shortly and went down to Donnie's lab. Inwardly. he was more thouhtful - maybe this day wasn't as stupid as he had thought in the beginning.

...

"Oh bro, thanks for coming, really good that someone could help me with this" Donnie said.

"No problem - I have nothing to do, as you know" Leo answered. Donnie grinned. "Yeah... Good timing for this lesson, if you asked me"

Donnie turned to the shell racer - the vehicle had been rather destroyed during their last fight with the foot clan, but the genius turtle had obviously managed to repair it. It looked as new.

"I managed to put the destroyed parts of the racer together - but the engine itself isn't working yet" He pointed to a smaller monitor above the racer. "All you have to do is to watch this monitor and tell me if the numbers over there change" He pointed on the list of numbers on the monitor. "If yes - you've got to tell me. It's connected with the motor and I'll try to start it."

Leo understood. It wasn't a difficult task he had to do. "No problem."

"Great" Donnie said in a cheerful voice and went into the vehicle.

...

After some time, Donnie had managed to repair the engine as well.

"Wow, you're really good at that stuff" Leo said and smiled to his younger brother. He really liked it to help Donnie in the lab.

"Thanks... you know, it's kind of nice to share the success with you" Donnie answered. "I mean, without your help, it would've been difficult."

"Come on, you're joking... you would've managed it without me, too." Leo said.

"Well,... I guess you're right"

Leo nodded. However, he had a question he needed to ask his brother. He had asked it himself before, but he didn't found an answer. Maybe his younger brother was able to help him.

"Uh... Donnie? Can I ask you something personal?"

His brother looked up to him with a questioning look. "Sure, bro."

"How come that you never seem to have any doubts?" He stopped, trying to choose the right words. "You know, you always seem to be so sure about the things you do - especially when it comes to techniques or if you have to repair something. And, no matter what you tell me, you have to carry responsibility for this stuff."

Donnie nodded, his smile vanished. "Well, that's maybe the harder part of being the genius" he said sarcastically. "You know, I have to learn everything by myself and I only can hope that I do nothing wrong - I guess, it's a bit like your job as a leader.

Now it was Leo who looked at him with questioned eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You never know if it's right what you do. You just have to try an see what happens."

Leo nodded. That was really true. His job as a leader and Donnie's as a technician or even doctor sometimes weren't that different at all.

"And..." he gulped. He wasn't sure if he should ask the question. But as Donnie smiled to him encouragingly, he just had to. "How do you manage to... " he searched for the words. "I mean, you always seem to have no problem when you have a difficult situation."

"Yep. That's true. I guess I'm like that because I don't see any sense to panic. If some of my experiments or so go wrong, I just... carry on. I have to. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a shell racer" he smiled. "And, it's important that you believe in yourself. If I wouldn't trust in me and my abilities, you have no idea how stressed I would be. Even more as usual" he grinned again.

Now Leo understood - it was important to believe in oneself. As he thought about this more, it came to his mind that during the last times, he knew that that was a problem of him. He had to fight his self-doubts. And he had to believe in himself, if he wanted the others to believe in him.

"Thanks for the talking, bro." Leo said then. Donnie nodded. "Every time" he said.

...

Later in the evening, Raphie had asked Leo if he wanted to go for a run. Suspiciously, Leo said that he would like to come with him. Truth was, his relationship with the hot head wasn't that easy, but he hoped to make it better. Maybe that would be a good opportunity.

As they made a break on the roof of a skyscraper to observe the beautiful New Yorker skyline by night, the atmosphere was rather awkward, though.

"So... uh.. how come you didn't went outside alone?" Leo asked the younger brother.

"Can't I just sped some time with my bro?" Raphie countered. Leo smiled.

"Uh... sure. I was just wondering."

Silence. Then...

"So, how's your free day so far?"

Now Leo understood. He'd learned from Mikey to be more positive, from Donnie to believe in himself. Was that another lesson? He wondered what Raphie could teach him.

"It's kind of strange. You know... I've never done this... doing nothing."

Raphie nodded. "Yep... Master Splinter kind of mentioned this earlier."

"So he talked with you about me? What did he tell you?" Leo asked immediately before he could stop himself.

"'s that so important, fearless?"

Leo thought shortly. Should he talk about that with his brother - with Raphael, of all people?

"I asked you somethin'"

"I... I just want that you guys are confident with what I'm doing for you" Leo said quietly. There was a pause.

"Why?" Raphie simply asked. "I mean, you're our 'fearless leader', you shouldn't be so self-critcal."

"But... If I do something wrong, I could put the whole family into danger... so, I should be..." he stopped.

"perfect?" Raphie continued the sentence for him. Leo looked down. Yeah, perfect was a good keyword - he tried to be perfect for his family, indeed.

"Bro, you can't be perfect. And, believe me when I say, you're good enough for us just as you are."

Leo looked to Raphie again. "That's good to hear from someone who calls me 'Mr. Perfect'"

A bit embarrassed, Raphie replied his look. "You know how I mean it. It's of course good to try and to give you best, but you have to do it because you want to do it - for yourself. Otherwise it wouldn't be fulfilling. You know, that's actually why I'm not afraid of _not_ thinking. I just... kind of act. I do that because I have to - for me. You understand?"

Leo nodded - wasn't that Donnie had told him earlier, too? Then, he grinned. "You know, for a hot head, you actually said something really intelligent."

"Oh yeah... even I have my moments" Raphie laughed. "But don't tell anyone... they would await more of that stuff, and I ain't in the mood to teach the others, too."

Leo grinned. "Don't worry, bro. Your secret's save".

...

"I know now why you did that lecture with me" Leonardo said as he entered the dojo. After the run with Raphael, he decided to speak with his father.

Splinter turned around. "So...?" he asked.

"I guess, what you wanted to teach me is to over think my motivation. I mean.. my motivation why I do things. Like, practicing and so on. "

"Go on" his Sensei encouraged him with a friendly look.

"I... was marked of self-doubts lately. I practiced because I wanted to... make you proud. I was too ambitious and not relaxed."

Splinter nodded. "Even a master ninjutsu should know the art of being relaxed. Otherwise, he won't be able to concentrate and to make his mind free".

"Yeah, and Mikey as showed me a way to be more... chilled. I'll try and think more positive, too. "

"That is good, my son"

"And Donnie said that it's important to believe in oneself. I mean... it's not that I didn't know that. He... kind of reminded me to do so."

Splinter nodded again, but didn't interrupt the blue masked turtle. "And... Raphie." he stopped. "he... told me that being perfect for someone else shouldn't be the aim."

"That is right. A good ninjutsu would always try to give his best. But he'd never be perfect - there's always something learn."

"True. My brothers... have taught me a lot today, too. I didn't think that I could learn that much from them." He stopped. "Thanks for... putting us together again."

Splinter looked at his son. He seemed to have comprehended what he wanted him to teach. He looked more relaxed, and his aura was more positively. It was just one part of being a ninjutsu. He would learn more in his life, with his experience. But that was another story.

 **End :) Ohh, I'm so excited what you think about this story - it came out completely different as I had planned first. I hope it wasn't too confusing, too.**

 **Please don't forget to review, and prompts are, as always, welcomed too.**

 **Love**

 **Cupcake01**


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